Generally, a cabin of a vehicle, such as a passenger car, a truck, and a bus, is equipped with in-vehicle electronic equipment, for example, a car audio system and a car navigation system. Some of the in-vehicle electronic equipment are equipped with a disk device that plays (records) a disk such as CD or DVD when inserted with the disk, and a slot that electrically connects the recording medium to the in-vehicle electronic equipment and enables data communication when inserted with a recording medium produced in accordance with predetermined specifications as to, for example, shape.
Some of such in-vehicle electronic equipment include an operation display panel and an opening-closing mechanism that moves the operation display panel to open and closed positions. Arranged on the operation display panel are buttons for operating the in-vehicle electronic equipment, a monitor that displays an operational state, and the like. An insert face configured to be uncovered when the operation display panel is set in the open position by the opening-closing mechanism is formed on the front surface (surface on the cabin side) of the in-vehicle electronic equipment. A disk insert slot through which a disk is inserted into the disk device, and an insert slot into which the recording medium is inserted are formed on the insert face. In other words, when playing (recording) a disk, or performing reciprocal data communication by electrically connecting a recording medium to the in-vehicle electronic equipment, a user brings the operation display panel into the open position with the opening-closing mechanism to uncover the insert face, and then inserts the disk from the disk insert slot, or inserts the recording medium from the insert slot.
When unloading the disk from the disk device via the disk insert slot, if the operation display panel in the open position is closed, the operation display panel may hit against the disk, and may damage a recording surface of the disk. For this reason, some of conventional in-vehicle electronic equipment are configured to load the disk with an unloading unit, or to produce an alarm sound with an alarm-sound producing unit, if the in-vehicle electronic equipment detects that the operation display panel (grille) is not in the open position, when the disk is positioned at the disk insert slot, or while unloading the disk, for example, as described in Patent Document 1.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-329578